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Atlantic City
Atlantic City is a resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It is famous for its casinos, hotels, and boardwalks, and in 1976 Atlantic City and Las Vegas were the only two cities where gambling was legal. Atlantic City was a center of criminal activity; although it was not controlled by any family and was a "free city", several families had interests in the casinos and hotels in the city. History Atlantic City was incorporated on 1 May 1854, connecting several towns in Atlantic County, New Jersey. The city developed into a center of hotels and boardwalks in the 1900s, when businesspeople invested in hotels. In the 1920s, Atlantic City reached a "golden age" as several tourists visited the city. In the back rooms of clubs and restaurants, gambling and bootlegging took place during Prohibition, when the government of the United States outlawed both gambling and alcoholic beverages. Atlantic City became the home to many famous bootleggers, such as Nucky Thompson, Jimmy Darmody, Lucky Luciano, and Johnny Torrio, whether they were permanent residents or often visited the city. Atlantic City was an "open city" for organized crime, with no family owning territory there. Instead, the city consisted of hotels, casinos, and other venues that were owned by several families without the need to pay tribute to any family that "owned" the city. In 1935, during the Pacification of New York, the Five Families of New York City began operations in the city, and many of the families competed for the control of the city. From the 1950s onwards, however, Atlantic City degenerated as Las Vegas became another major center of gambling, and the Corleones moved to Nevada, although they still owned some venues. Poverty, crime, corruption, and economic decline plagued the city as many businesspeople headed instead to Miami Beach or the Bahamas, facilitated by the invention of private jets; New York people did not have to drive to their destinations anymore, and could fly to other resort cities. In 1976, gambling was legalized, allowing for business moguls such as Donald Trump to build a casino empire, with the Trump Taj Mahal being a famous casino. The Bruno crime family of Philadelphia became powerful in the city, and their alliance with the Gambino crime family increased their hold on the city. However, in the early 1980s their power decreased when Angelo Bruno was assassinated by the greedy Antonio Caponigro, who was in turn killed by The Commission for killing a crime boss without their permission. Philip Testa became the new boss, but in 1982 he was killed by a nail bomb at his house. Philadelphia became a mob war battleground as mob killings occurred all across the city, and Atlantic City was also effected, as the gambling commission lost power to the Mafia, which fought vicious battles for control of gambling. In 2007, Atlantic City became destitute as Trump's empire went bankrupt four times and had to cut 1,100 jobs. In 2014, Trump decided to leave Atlantic City, having made a lot of money off of it. As the other casinos fell due to the legalization of sports gambling across the country, he decided to leave, having leeched millions of dollars from the city before leaving it as a crater. Atlantic City's rise and fall became a great legend of criminal and business history, and the city lost the reputation that it once had. Category:Cities Category:Locations